Game still going ahead despite positive Covid cases at Villa and now Man Utd following the weekend game vs Norwich. Villa’s new positive Covid case meant their Sunday training was cancelled. Villa currently 13th (19 points) following their 1 – 0 loss to Liverpool on Saturday. What intel can Dean Smith bring to this game? It’s a quick turnaround for both teams from big games at the weekend that would have dominated their planning. Hopefully DS has the run on Gerrard with team preparation. Buendia was dropped for their Liverpool game. I’ll not be upset if he stays firmly on the bench against us. COYY.
I think Emi will start. Makes sense to play him imo More concerned about our central defenders. Any news this morning?
DS on the Villa game: https://www.edp24.co.uk/sport/norwich-city/canaries-ncfc-dean-smith-aston-villa-challenge-8558956 This is one he doesn't have to research for sure. TEAM NEWS from today's presser: Ben Gibson (thigh) will train today but Mathias Normann (pelvis) isn't ready to return yet. Grant Hanley set for a scan, suspected shoulder ligament damage but didn't dislocate. In a sling and not clear how long he'll be out yet. Andrew Omobamidele (back) out for a couple of weeks but Milot Rashica (groin) on course to return v Arsenal on Boxing Day. Christos Tzolis in isolation until testing negative for Covid-19 and compliant with regulations. Christoph Zimmermann easing back towards training and should return after Christmas.
Sounds reasonably positive in the sense that the team will likely be almost unchanged. I would be tempted to go with Giannoulis instead of Williams to be honest as I thought Gianni looked good going forward and yet unusually effective defensively.
Great thread mate. Hoping Ozan & Sorensen start they were fantastic, sometimes an injury crisis brings opportunities to shine.
Got to bring Williams back. He was awesome in our previous 3games Centre half is the biggest problem imo
Villa will have two players missing due to Covid as well. Auto correct does not recognise the word "due" and keeps changing it to she.
If we can play the way we played against Man U on Saturday and be a bit more lethal up front we should win this game. We made Man U & Ronaldo look poor on Saturday and should have come away with at least a point.
Not great news except for Gibson being able to train. Smith will have to perform more magic with his selections.
I wonder if he will change the midfield, Sorenson and Lees-Melou to start? However Rupp played well and McLean is efficiently effective. It will be interesting to see how the players who have not played in a while will hold up. If Buendia plays will Smith pit Cantwell against him to say 'prove it' or perhaps Gianoullis as left midfielder and play Williams as LB as well? Sargent..... he runs like an old man, but like Gary Holt he runs and runs and runs. I think he should become the new three lungs (hopefully he learns how to shoot too).
Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard confirmed "a couple of staff members and a couple of players" have tested positive but insisted the "vast majority" were negative. He said Tuesday's game against Norwich is not in doubt and Canaries boss Dean Smith said one of his players was isolating but the rest of the squad had tested negative on Sunday.
DS also said that the club has a very high level of vaccinations. Is that not the case on big clubs like Spurs and ManUtd?
The lack of fire-power/ability to score (from a Canary perspective) suggests a 0-0 draw at best but I think Villa will win 2-0
Honestly can't see anything other than a nil-nil at best, 0-2 at worst. None of our players look remotely like putting the ball in the onion bag from open play, that's before goalkeeping 'masterclasses' from set pieces.
85% of the league are fully vaccinated apparently: https://www.skysports.com/football/...nce-release-of-weekly-figures-began-last-year Back in October, 68% of the league were fully vaccinated, 81% had had a single dose. By now you'd think most who had a first dose will have had a second, so there's not many more players who have been convinced since then. Leaves about 1 in 7 unvaccinated.
